ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a theory of states of consciousness (SoC). Specifically, it proposes and illustrates a model that integrates a logical scheme for how empathic rapport and suggestion evoke and reorganize sets of experiences into a stabilized state of hypnosis. Two theories of hypnosis which have been thought to be dichotomous and mutually exclusive, state theory and social-cognitive theory, may be viewed as merging into a single continuum. The SoC model illustrates the relationship between them by tracing interpersonal activity between hypnotist and subject's phenomenological participation. The model draws connections between the actions of empathic rapport, suggestions, mental search, elicitation, and reassociation of experience leading to the stabilization of a state of hypnosis. The schema presented draws less upon the traditional and authoritarian model of hypnotic induction and instead relates to an Ericksonian indirect communication approach. Viewed in this manner, it illustrates that the interplay of both the elements of state theory of consciousness and the social cognitive model of hypnosis is intimately interconnected and forms an inseparable transactional unit as they create change in the hypnotist–client relationship. Thus, it updates or replaces the discussion of authoritarian hypnotic induction and the state of consciousness model proposed by Tart.
